ST. LOUIS – The jurors in TV star Tim Norman’s murder-for-hire trial decided to halt the deliberations, which will resume Friday for the third day.
After almost 16 hours, the jury had more questions that needed answers before they could arrive at a verdict.
“This was a long day for me,” said onlooker Corlyn. “They come up with a lot of different thoughts, and they just want to be thorough about it, and that’s good.”
She reiterated many observers’ sentiments, but the rest of the courtroom declined interviews until a verdict was reached.
The courtroom was filled with onlookers interested in the case of Norman, a former reality TV star of the show, “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s,” who was accused of hiring a hitman to kill his nephew, Andre Montgomery, back in 2016 to collect a $450,000 life insurance claim.
The man accused, Travell Hill, had admitted to killing Montgomery.
On Thursday, as jurors discussed the case, they had a series of questions for the judge. This included asking to see 7,000 pages of evidence detailing Tim Norman’s cell phone records; why there was no note mentioned of the cooperation agreement with the insurance agent, Darrell Howard; and evidence submitted by the agent.
The judge told them to rely on their memory of the case and follow the law.
The defense also asked the judge for a mistrial, which was denied. Before deciding to pause deliberations. The jury asked for clarification about the “difference between conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire or the crime of murder-for-hire.”
The judge instructed them to again follow the law and their recollections of the evidence that was presented in the trial.
The jury is set to resume deliberations Friday at 8:45 a.m.
